Digital Platforms
Platforms have become central to many of society's most important functions. You use them to find information (Google, Bing, etc.), communicate with friends (iOS, WhatsApp), find a date (Tinder, Bumble), book a flight (Google Flights), make hotel (Kayak) or restaurant reservations (OpenTable). There is a good chance you are reading this course description on a digital platform (OS X, Linux, or Windows). This seminar provides a multidisciplinary lens by which to study these organizations as the intersection of markets, technology, and institutions. The sessions will discuss how platforms have transformed labor, democracy, economics, law, and other aspects of social life. In doing so, this seminar will allow students to engage in discussions about surveillance, capitalism, inequality, power, and cooperation.
Topics
- Students will be able to understand digital platforms from multiple academic disciplinary perspectives.
- Students will be able to explain how digital platforms are reshaping the concept of labor and work.
- Students will be able to understand how platform organizations wield power, especially in relation to consumers and the state.
- Students will be able to possess a foundational understanding of how to create, compete with, or co-exist with platform organizations.
Official roster learning outcomes
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026-2027